Spinning Workshop with Linda Lewis

This weekend has been the first weekend of workshops after a summer of boaty maintenance and time out. The wonderful Linda Lewis is running a guest Spinning and Weaving workshop, so I get to be the student not the teacher!
It’s a weekend of wool with a Felting Workshop too.

Over the weekend we will be carding wool, spinning wool, weaving wool, wet felting wool, needle felting wool and free motion machine embroidering into wool! It’ll be a very wonderful, woolly weekend!

Linda makes spinning look like magic and so easy!  It is actually really quite difficult, you often feel like you need an extra set of  hands and fingers.  I very excited about having Linda come and teach this workshop, she is a very talented women, who knows an awful lot about wool.  We have plans to do a Weekend of Wool Course together in March 2018.  If you’re interested in booking, keep an eye out on Facebook and the website, more details in the new year.

Guest Artist Workshops on the Crafts Afloat Boat

Crafts Afloat has recently introduced Guest Workshops on the craft boat.  This has been a great opportunity for our regular guests to come back and spend more time being creative aboard the boat, and for me to beable to take part in the workshops too!

Pat Akerman from Big Hugz Handmade has led two workshops in Needle Felting.  Needle felting uses special barbed needles and a selection of carded wool to create 3D pieces of artwork.

During the first workshop we made Felted Faces, most of the workshop participants made a version of a Green Man.

The second time she visited we created animals, I made a moon gazing hare, whilst other people made miniature replicas of their own dogs.  The process of making these animals, building them up, limb by limb is fascinating.  Sculpting the wool with the needle is such a fabulous process.  The wool is so malleable, it magically transforms before your eyes just by being repeatedly stabbed with a small needle.  Beware though, it is a very addictive process!

Pat is a brilliant teacher who patiently supports the group through the various stages, allowing everyone to have their own input in the creative outcomes.

Check out her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/bighugzhandmade/

Upcoming Guest Workshops

Precious Mental Clay with Alison Zwaard from Handmade in Netheredge Saturday 3rd June (Fully Booked) – http://www.handmadeinnetheredge.co.uk/

3D Paper Cut Art with Heidi Vilkman Saturday 15th July (Places available) – www.heidivilkman.com

 

 

Christmas Gift Vouchers – A unique experience!

Felting 6

Buying someone a unique experience for Christmas, where they can spend quality time with friends and family is such a fabulous idea!

“Fill your life with experiences, not things.  Have stories to tell, not stuff to show”.

In my family, we decided a few years ago to stop buying stuff.  Although the stuff was appreciated, it was often things we didn’t really need, or have space for.  As I live on a boat, as well as running my business from a boat, I have very little space for material possessions.  The No Stuff Please rule began.  Now, each Christmas we put our pennies together to do something fun and different together.

We have been to see Cirque du Soleil in the Albert Hall, we’ve done a wire jewellery workshop in North Yorkshire, a perfumery course at Handmade in Netheredge in Sheffield , we hired a beautiful cottage in the Scottish Boarders, we visited Plockton which is a stunning coastal village on the North West Coast of Scotland, the list of memorable experiences goes on!  This year I plan to buy my partner a brewery tour at his favourite ale company, with an over-night stay in a romantic hotel afterwards!

Most of my workshop guests are groups of friends or families who come to spend some quality time together, doing something new and interesting.  Often women come on their own to my scheduled workshops and meet new people too. The fantastic thing about my job is, that I also get to spend time with these great women, chatting, catching up, sharing stories and being creative in a beautiful intimate space!

Why not buy someone special a workshop voucher for a Crafts Afloat workshop!?  I currently offer full day workshops in Fused Glass, Mosaics and Felting, aboard the craft boat in Hebden Bridge.  Every workshop starts with morning pastries and tea or real coffee.  The boat is filled with inspiration to help participants plan their creative work.  During the workshop you work with top quality materials and equipment and can be given as much or as little support as you require.  Lunch is served at the fantastic Olive Branch restaurant where you can choose from a range of Turkish wraps, paninies and salads.  The food is delicious and you can have a large glass of wine to help the creative juices flow!  After lunch I serve cake and coffee on the boat whilst you finish off your creations.

Creative Escapism!

Check out my reviews on Trip Advisor and Facebook if you need further persuasion!

To buy a gift voucher follow this link – Crafts Afloat Gift Voucher.

Avoid high street stress this Christmas, support small, local business and artists this year. xx

White sands, pink skies! Felting for Open Studios.

A felt landscape, almost finished, ready for Hebden Bridge Open Studios.
This piece is inspired by Scottish sunsets and the fabulous felting artist Moy Mackay.  http://www.moymackaygallery.com/.
It’s also an example of what you can learn to do during my full day felting workshops.  This piece is created using wet felting and more detail is added using free motion machine embroidery and needle felting.  I’ve recently invested in a new sewing machine and it’s amazing! I love using the free motion embroidery foot to add detail and texture to the fabric.
I’ll be doing demonstrations during Open Studios so pop down to the Floating Pop Up Gallery! xx

White sands pink sky